Three Muslim men were jailed for up to four and a half years for an arson attack on the home of the publisher of The Jewel of Medina.
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thabet
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johnpi
Even when the body of a media story gets it right, writers still try to hype false conflict in the headlines and at the top of the story to create drama. Here’s the first paragraph of an article announcing that “Jewel of Medina” author Sherry Jones is coming to speak about her book:
What does local journalist Sherry Jones have in common with the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten? Both have stirred up anger in the Muslim world through the press and both have stood by their work, with varying results.
Sherry Jones’ experience releasing her book has nearly nothing in common with the controversy that blew up over the Danish cartoons. This is total hype that relies on the bugaboo of Muslim anger to create drama and interest.
To Jones credit, she sets the record straight, but that gets buried toward the bottom of the story.Regarding the controversy surrounding her book, Jones said the heat never rose to a dangerous level. “‘The Jewel of Medina’ cannot legitimately be used as an example of Muslim extremism and its consequences, but rather as an example of the self-censorship we in the United States are willing to undergo – the freedoms we are willing to sacrifice – in the name of fear.”
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willow
And just because you can’t get enough, here is my review of that one book for Red Room. (It’s geared toward a non-Muslim audience.) My previous post about the book generated thousands of hits and a heated discussion.
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kaitlin
From a Recent Inside Islam post on Jewel:
To get a better handle on the controversy, it’s necessary to separate the religion from the fear. Controversies over Muhammad’s life and representations of it in popular television and stories are nothing new in Muslim culture. What’s recent is the link between Islam and its history with terrorism and other threats to national security in the mainstream media. This new trend happens to be what Journalist for the Bureau of National Affairs and author Sherry Jones hopes to overcome with the release of her novel. She tells Egypt Today that her interest in Islam came after the September 11th attacks and from coverage of radical violence in the news since then. Through her research and writing, she wants to overcome fears and open up a new dialogue about Islam’s history.
[From The Jewel of Medina: A National Security Threat? – Inside Islam]
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kaitlin
Here’s a link to a post from Gawker about The Jewel of Medina.
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Fatemeh
This week on MMW, we discuss the polarizing politics of Muslims who speak against Islamism, provide a kick-ass review of The Jewel of Medina (it’s especially kick-ass because we have an audio clip of Ethar’s interview with Sherry Jones that you won’t find anywhere else), give point and counterpoint on Mohja Kahf’s Washington Post piece, discuss the racism and sexism that keep African American Muslim women out of Muslim representation, satirize the publishing industry’s interest in Muslim women, and keep you up-to-date on news about Muslim women.
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thabet
Late last month, Inayat Bunglawala was reflecting on how the views of British Muslims (and his own) have changed (notwithstanding these idiots) regarding the publication of ‘offensive’ material. I think it is fair to add that non-violent protest is perfectly legitimate if something upsets you so much.
On this topic, Charlie Gere is right to point out that states regulate and define (and so protect) speech, and that even liberal societies have their own cultural blindspots. But Gere is wrong to imply Muslims in these societies need special protection. They don’t — they just need to be treated fairly.
And Tom Heneghan asks, “Now what?”.
Hopefully, nothing.
